Champion of the Frozen Wastes
by Flashryan
Summary: A deep dive into a Troll Death Knight through his old life, through undeath, to find his place in this world. When thrust into the service of the Lich King, he must find himself and take back what the Lich King stole.
1. Prologue

Champion of the Frozen Wastes - Prologue

A bleak, chilling wind blew over Toldir's face as he grimaced and made his way on the airship coming in for a docking at one of the towers in the distance. Toldir, a traveling troll hunter who fought for the Horde in years past, saw this opportunity to explore new lands. As a hunter, he respected and loved all animals he'd come across. His skin was light blue and darker blue hair pulled back into dreadlocks. Quite often he'd find himself talking and running into Hemet Nesingwary, a famous dwarf known for his ability to hunt anything and everything that people challenged him to try and capture, throughout his journeys. Toldir wasn't the best hunter by any stretch, but he was always kept a keen eye and sharpened his skills to be effective as being a good hunter. The zeppelin he was riding on was of goblin origin, one of the many races that the Horde used under its banner for various purposes. He had volunteered along with a large group of others to make landfall for the continent of Northrend. Toldir was hunting for the Horde now, and his prey was none other than the Lich King himself. The Lich King was a fallen paladin, he had heard, turned into a creature of unimaginable power and anguish who could control the dead Scourge. When Toldir heard about this threat and how the recent attack on Orgrimmar, his city home, was nearly ransacked and destroyed from the Scourge invasion a few months ago, he felt the need and push to go to Northrend in this new campaign.

Although he wasn't alone on this large zeppelin machine, he was most at home with his animal companions and rarely made friends outside of his animal circle. His closest companion was his pet warpstalker Namineh, an ivory white giant lizard with purple spikes and purple patterns traveling over its body. He was sitting on some crates listening in on the conversations of the other men and women on the ship, chattering incessantly about the coming war and battles ahead. A few trolls like himself, brandishing ranged and melee weapons of all shapes and sizes were present. Tauren, large bowvine humanoid creatures that were either pacifistic or alpha male types. Orcs, the bread and butter of the Horde – green skinned big thug-types. Goblins, the tinier green versions of orcs, although more intelligent by far. Blood Elves, with their magic-potent bodies and even bigger ego to boot. Pandaren – smug yet masking intelligence, resembled larger bears almost exactly, but were humanoid. The most peculiar bunch, was the undead Forsaken. These undead were resilient under their undead leader Sylvanas Windrunner, who actually broke away from the Lich King's will before he had made his escape to Northrend, leaving them homeless and purposeless until the orc Warchief Thrall brought them into his ranks.

Toldir pat Namineh softly on the head, no one seemed to give him any notice, mostly communing with themselves, and he was ok with that.

"Bring it in, slowly, Mr. Copperbolt!" one goblin said to another, shouting and barking orders at others as they were pulled in, meeting with the zeppelin dockmaster. Northrend felt eternally cold – even with the sun out and clouds peaking it in and out every so often. He had heard stories of the Lich King and the freezing nature of everything he touched and corrupted, but wasn't sure how much truth there was. Almost none returned when they encountered him, and the ones who did were too struck with fear to even make sense of anything they tried to remember.

The aptly named town Vengeance Landing, was a spearhead base of operations for the Forsaken, a good starting foothold for the Horde to come in and start their fighting and move inward. Mostly ran by Forsaken positioned by the Royal Apothecary Society and Sylvanas, Toldir has stepped off the zeppelin, taking in all the sights. He wasn't particularly happy about the cold, but the new wonders of a new place always kept his spirits high. His chainmail armor clattered as made his way down the wooden and brick tower of the dock and onto the lush green ground. The town wasn't particularly big, but it was a force to be reckoned with.

Fresh supplies came with his trip, so he grabbed some food and went to the local blacksmith and repair they had on hand and had them take a look at his gear and sharpen it up for the battles ahead.

Days passed, turning into weeks, and then months. This campaign took Toldir and the others through a grueling trek throughout their landing zone and beyond known as the Howling Fjord, pushing their way and fighting all sorts of undead monstrosities – some human, some not. After making their way north to the deep forest of tall hills and humongous mountain ranges, known as the Grizzly Hills, Toldir went north. He had heard tales of a legendary animal, a lightning wolf named Skoll, rare as it was mysterious. A Spirit Beast, some called it. Other hunters on the trek of all shapes and sizes were interested in capturing it, so Toldir listened in and began tracking it up north in the area marked out as the Storm Peaks. Venturing on his own, he only had himself and Namineh to keep him company.

After many weeks of tracking the whereabouts of this lightning wolf, Skoll, Toldir learned of his potential prey and recognized its patterns of feeding. There, in the distance at a pool lapping up the water, was Skoll, out in the open. Lightning cracked around it's body, small jolts jumping from hair to hair. It's muzzle blue, eyes brightly lit. His body hairs stood outward, acting as conduits for his lightning. Toldir dismissed Namineh and told her to hang back while he approached. Skoll was either entirely unaware or didn't care, as he kept drinking from the water. Toldir went to move from his hiding spot nearby behind an icy snow bank but a sharp voice entered his mind and stopped him cold.

"Many have tried before you. Many stronger, many weaker." The wolf spoke to him telepathically, such is the nature of a Spirit Beast, Toldir thought to himself.

"There's something about you that makes you different. You're not here to hunt for my fur or take me to sell." Skoll looked up inquisitively towards him but made no move, and Toldir slowly approached him, inching closer and closer. Skoll shot a quick lightning crack from his pelt in front of Toldir to stop him from moving. Toldir's gaze hardened as he took in the sight of the wolf as the wolf now moved closer, circling him.

"You're seeking power…against _him_ , and you want a new companion." Skoll snorted. "Typical yet underwhelming." He spoke quicker, circling Toldir more and more. Skoll was still a wolf at heart, and Toldir knew it, he kept his gaze on Skoll but trusted when he didn't move his head to follow.

"You're too trusting!" Skoll lunged at him from behind, but Toldir held up his arm in defense, Skoll biting down hard on the armor, not breaking it through just yet, but certainly denting and pushing it into him. It wasn't so much pain for Toldir with the bite he was trying to push through, but when Skoll attacked his sent lighting coursing through Toldir's body, making him drop to one knee as he held his arm there in Skoll's mouth.

"Are you truly strong enough to withstand me? And even if you can't….how do you expect to defeat him?!" Skoll yelled in his mind, biting down harder. Toldir winced, but held firm, narrowing his eyes in defiance, and Skoll took notice. After several minutes, Skoll let go, Toldir dropped his arm down into the snow, and looked up at Skoll. Defiance still showing in Toldir's eyes as he held his arm now.

"You have the eyes of an alpha." Skoll growled. Yet, he took a step back and bowed towards Toldir.

"I will accompany you on your journeys. You've earned my trust and my respect." Skoll nodded approvingly. Toldir smiled and his gaze softened, reaching out a hand towards Skoll's snout. Skoll moved under his hand and started to glow.

The glowing light covered Toldir's forearm and the marks and dents of the armor began to shape and renew.

"As a Spirit Beast I have the ability to not only communicate with you like this as well with others, but I have the ability to heal others through my spirit." Skoll nodded again.

Toldir looked over towards Namineh's hiding spot and whistled for her to show herself to Skoll. Skoll nodded towards Namineh and she sniffed him, still defensive but returned to her master's side with a happy warp and a prominent posture. Slowly, they made their way back down to a fortress in Grizzly Hills called Conquest Hold, aptly named for the Horde's new forward base. Less Forsaken undead and more orcs took this position, as they held it against the undead Scourge as well as the Alliance faction, opposite their own faction's goals. Many people had talked about Skoll's appearance at Toldir's side, now he was afraid he was drawing too much attention. Toldir had brought some other companions with him on the trip, but he traveled mostly with Namineh. He had the rest kept with the Stable Master to care for them while he was off hunting Skoll. He had a Devilsaur, a large green tyrannosaurus rex with several spikes attached to various places on its body, named Dima. A large fluorescent bird named Ban'thilos, a beautiful neon green bird native to Mount Hyjal to the north of Orgrimmar back in Toldir's home of Orgrimmar, and a large molten spider from the lava mountains of the Burning Steppes on the continent of the Eastern Kingdoms. He was well traveled for a Darkspear troll.

Many more weeks passed as the Horde pushed more throughout the zone, hard battles won, but it wasn't an easy feat. It wasn't until the fighting made its way towards Drak'Tharon Keep – a fortress made by the native Drakkari tribe of trolls that carved their niche and culture within Northrend. Toldir was of the Darkspear clan, but felt like he had a closeness with the Drakkari – the aptly named ice trolls. After fighting them off out of their keep and finding their leader had betrayed them for power that the Lich King promised, the fortress was lost to them and the Horde pushed through into the troll's homeland, known as Zul'Drak.

Zul'Drak was where the Horde and Alliance loosely joined forces under the banner of the Argent Dawn – a faction consisting both the Horde and the Alliance in service of the Light to defeat the Scourge. Their forward base, however, was constantly under attack and put a lot of strain on them holding this front in Zul'Drak. The Scourge presence was strong here.

As soon as the Horde Caravan from Drak'Tharon Keep made its way up to the paved road to where the Argent Dawn had set up camp, but no sooner had they arrived had the Scourge begun it's assault anew. Paladins, Warriors, and all sorts had charge into the fray as undead shamblers and flying demonic bat looking-creatures descended. Toldir was the first to draw his bow and let loose arrows to down the bats from the sky, as the Argent Dawn met toe to toe with the creatures.

"For the Horde!" shouted a few of the orcs as they charged in, weapons drawn, cutting and slicing their way through the corpses.

"Look out! They're carrying some of us away!" a paladin shouted. Toldir looked up towards the sky to see dozens more descend upon the camp, with even more skeletons and corpses coming out of the ground and surrounding walls to attack. Toldir had witnessed a few of the Argent Dawn getting sliced and carried off into the sky. Cries rang out as they tried to get away, but there was just so many of them. Skoll shot a few more out of the sky as he let his lightning loose, and Namineh had warped on top of some to try and free some of the Argent Dawn in their grasp, killing dozens. Toldir knew better than to run up to them, and kept himself ranged away from them. The waves finally died down, until the attack ceased after many minutes. But there were a lot of men missing, dead, or worse…eaten, strewn about the site.

"They'll be back, grab whatever provisions we can from the caravan that arrived and set up for another wave. We're far from done." A human called out across the camp. Commander Kunz was a paladin, and a strong one at that, he'd been there from the start of the first push into Zul'Drak from the Alliance's side of things. Horde and Alliance tended to not get in each other's way, and avoided conflict when a common enemy was present. Most of the time.

Toldir nodded as the Horde went to talk with the Commander and he went to the blacksmith to repair his armor and gear. He wasn't beat up like the others but his weapons and armor needed to be in top shape and reinforced if he were ever forced into close combat, as well as to restring his bow. Skoll and Namineh were kept fed as Toldir took to leaning up against one of the southern walls. He didn't have much in the ways of home comforts but they made beds whenever they could. Various tents to simple sleeping bags or even just stockpiled things to sleep on were all they could afford to set up without the Scourge destroying it to bits. They had to stay sharp and alert at all times, comfort was going to have to be way down the list of things necessary for holding this camp.

Night fell, and Toldir took a closer look at his surroundings. The camp itself wasn't very big, but it was an open area with some in complete walls in a wide square. The commanders of each force were up on a set of stairs leading up to a smaller area with a central fire pit. Chairs, tables, and the like were set up with maps and battleplans, banners of each faction was hung around the gazebo-like structure, that overlooked the wide square area. Toldir had moved to the southern wall of the wide square, away from others but able to keep an eye out on approaching enemies. He wasn't stupid enough to be alone out there but most of them kept to themselves, both of each faction just doing their job and maintaining a vigil.

Oddly enough it was quiet. The gazebo command post was well lit and everyone was setting up camps around the area. Some big, some small, but everyone kept an eye out for each other. Toldir was posted to stand watch near the south end where he ended up to begin with, so he was happy with it. He set up some food for Skoll and Namineh to munch on while he leaned back and loosened some of his armor. He didn't remove it completely just in case, but he leaned back against the wall and looked up into the sky. Stars littered the sky, and it was easy to spot them without the hustle and bustle of city lights keeping everything illuminated. Northrend at times, was beautiful, the landscape was carved out nicely, the animals themselves were quite charming or unique at times. Even if he had run into some of the more corrupted creatures or undead things that were unlucky enough to have run ins with the Scourge. As he lay there, Namineh came to rest her head on his left armored leg, and Skoll laid down on his right side, curling into a ball and drifting off to sleep. They, unlike the dead, still needed their rest, and Toldir was no exception. Drifting off to sleep, he had been patting Namineh's head and let his eyes close and sleep the things he'd seen that day away.

Toldir awoke with a gasp as huge explosion rocked him. The Scourge broke away one of the big stone pillars from the east side of the square and started pouring in. The demonic bats had come back in full force as well as the ghouls, geists, and now large hulking abominations broke through.

"By the Light, slay them all!" Commander Kunz shouted, charging forward into a group of them and killing a good handful with a single swing of his light-infused blade.

As Toldir strung back his bow and let loose his arrows with Skoll and Namineh charging at his targets, he felt at ease. Toldir had been training and fighting in wars most of his adult life, and he'd seen his fair share of horrors and defeats. Every war had them. But there was something about endless waves of the same enemies that unnerved him. Arrow and arrow loosed from his bow and still they kept coming. No matter how many he killed, they kept coming out of every hole, every crevice.

"Hold fast men! We're almost out-" the Commander shouted as a large boom was heard as the pillar Toldir had been up against was shattered, and he rolled out of the way to dodge the debris as more abominations cried out and roared, charging towards the gazebo.

Namineh warped in front of Toldir just as a shambling corpse tried to run up and attack, getting ripped apart by her and her sharp teeth. Skoll came up to Toldir's side and let loose a volley of lightning, jumping from several enemies and scorching them all to bits. Large spider-like creatures burst forth from the ground just outside the compound and broke in through the Scourge ranks. Nerubians. Undead spider-minions loyal to the Lich King started spewing webs at several Argent Dawn paladins and others. They carried them off and out into the distant darkness, shouting and screaming.

Several Nerubians caught up to and surrounded Toldir, but they shrunk back as it suddenly went quiet again. The Argent Dawn that remained regrouped and fell back. A large shadowy hand thrust from out of the darkness and grabbed a blood elf, dragging him into the shadows, his cries silenced as quickly as he disappeared. Lightning shot off into the distance as darkness seemed to move and extinguish the light sources in the camp, and the Lich King stepped forward, menacing and evil dripping from his aura of undeath that surrounded him. Toldir and the others stood their ground, but to no avail. The Lich King tore through them bit by bit, resurrecting them with the Val'kyr at his side and bringing them into undeath. Skoll and Namineh both ran with Toldir out of the camp to try and get some distance away to regroup. "Come on ya two, into the surrounding forest quickly!" Toldir spoke.

"Toldir, look out!" Skoll shouted telepathically as Toldir swiftly turned around to meet Nerubians head on. But there was too many, and he was ambushed. But not before taking out about five or six of them on his own. The sounds of Skoll and Namineh shouting and screeching as the world went black.

 _Cold. Silent. Nothing._ _What….? What is…this? Silence, silence for a long moment. Why-_

A shriek. His own voice. Lightning coursed through his body as a Val'kyr stood over him and he blacked out again. As quickly as he had seen her it was black again. But then again, this time with more ferocity in her lightning. She was resurrecting his body. The last thing he remembered before blacking out again was the Lich King standing in front of him with a sword in Toldir's hand, bloody. _Blood….from….where?_ He thought, as the Lich King summoned a death gate and motioned for Toldir and the others he had resurrected to step through. He didn't want to, but his body was compelled to do otherwise.


	2. Chapter One

Toldir stepped through the death gate. Immediately he was thrust upon the ground and assaulted by ghouls and geists. His hunter mail armor ripped and torn from his body with rough but careful hands and limbs. He wasn't the only one. Dozens of others of various races were pulled through death gates similar to his own, the Lich King disappearing into the crowd of people gathered on the edge of the balcony of the floating necropolis, Acherus.

Toldir wanted to fight back as he was stripped down and felt vulnerable, but his body wouldn't respond. Everything was happening so fast. All his previous thoughts and feelings were blurry and black. He couldn't remember anything short of a few minutes ago, when he was surrounded by lightning covered in snow in the middle of Northrend after he…

"… _died."_ He thought to himself.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to fight, but again his body would know nothing of reaction to his command. He lay there on his hands and knees, surrounded by draenei, orcs, elves of all kinds, heroes of the Horde and of the Alliance alike. All stripped down to their basic clothing covering little.

There was a strong presence in his mind there with his thoughts, pressing. Speaking to him, whispering to him, he wanted to close his eyes to focus, fruitless as an endeavor that was.

" _Obey. Obey. Obey. Obey."_ All he heard was that word, over and over it played in his head. Softly, quietly, whispering, it wasn't the dark gravel-like voice of the Lich King, it almost sounded, human.

"Get these soldiers to the armorer! Now!" A voice shouted over the racket of armor being dragged and dropped in a pile.

The voice in his head trailed off now, but his head was throbbing. His body moved again, getting up this time, moving to line up with the others in a single-file line.

" _Why is my body so heavy? Where am I?"_ Toldir thought to himself. He stood, and moved, stood and moved. He attempted to move his eyes away from the back of a human standing in front of him, he couldn't _feel_ anything either.

" _Turn dammit. TURN. LOOK!"_ Toldir struggled with his body, his eyelids inched. _Blink._ _Blink._ He blinked once more, it took everything in his power to move his eyes. Everything felt increasingly heavy the more he struggled to move on his own. He managed to slowly turn his eyes to the right. Peeping out from this broad-shouldered human in front of him was the sight of Acherus' walls. Blue flame and stone. His troll ears twitching and adjusting. He saw shadows flickering against the flames. Creatures shaped like skeletons, abominations, ghouls, and geists playing against the fire's light and shadow. Summoning his strength to turn his eyes to the left, he could make out training dummies and an open room. Various cloaked and armored individuals of all races were clashing steel and throwing dark magics at one another.

It came his turn in line, a large skeletal blacksmith finished hammering out some armor and cloth pieces and handed to them, which Toldir accepted willingly and moved on. He donned the armor, clasped the buckles, and without a second thought. It was almost as if it felt a part of him. It was comfortable and warming.

He stared out now into the room, looking straight ahead, blinking becoming second nature to him again. His own. The weight of his body becoming lighter, even though he was wearing heavy armor.

" _Plate armor, heavier than my mail armor. But it feels…natural."_ He sighed in his head and attempted a deep breath, his body unresponsive as it moved as robotically as the rest.

Dark blue and grey heavy robes and a heavy hood covered him head to toe, although his troll feet still were out in the open, still hardy as ever, but that didn't bother him one bit. The floor was cold and comforting. They marched over to the Lich King overlooking the balcony and into the valley below.

"The Scarlet Enclave…" the Lich King mused, still looking out towards his foes. He spoke slow and harsh, but low.

Inside that harsh voice Toldir heard the familiar human sounding voice, the one not so far from his own thoughts.

"Stand on your own feet, champions." The Lich King spoke. In an instant, all the initiates including Toldir collectively gasped and either fell to the floor, took a knee, or shifted. Each acting differently as the Lich King's hold on their bodies was lifted to give them some sort of illusion of freedom.

Toldir looked every which way now, taking in his surrounding and looking down at his hands, gasping. He was slowing his breathing as he touched his face and looked at his hands. Now pale white, he _felt_ with his own senses. He breathed deep, blinked hard, touched his robes, sucked in the air to taste it and flexed his muscles. Others did the same as they regained themselves. The Lich King turned to them.

"You are my champions. I've given you a new life, a new destiny. You are to be the ones to usher in a new generation of hatred and fear against the forces of the world and those who would fight against me."

"TO HELL WITH THAT!" one of them spoke. Immediately, all of them turned towards this female night elf that spoke out of turn, and suddenly Toldir felt threatened, ready to fight, _ready to kill._

The night elf ran towards the Lich King at full speed but was knocked down by others blocking her way to him. She kicked and screamed and fought to try and fight against them. Others joined in for a feeble attempt at a rebellion, but the other denizens of the floating necropolis arrived and carried off those few who resisted and fought against the Lich King's will. Both the Lich King and the other initiates, including Toldir said nothing as they were taken away.

"For the rest of you, report to Instructor Razuvious to gather your weapons." The Lich King seemed to smirk underneath is large and ornate black helmet.

Toldir turned to follow the others, now walking on their own. He looked on to spy others watching them. Other death knights that weren't just the simple guards or craftsmen. They wore unique or solid saronite metal armor as they looked onto the initiates with disgust, curiosity, and laughter. Toldir saw a large human bathed in red-hued armor smirk and taunt a female blood elf in sickly-green armor. "One-thousand gold says that night elf kills half of the new blood. Hah!" He sneered. "Lord Thorval, you always made such stupid bets, it's too easy to take money from you." She snickered back as she crossed her arms. "You still keep me entertained Lady Alistra." He paused as Toldir passed and seemed to squint hard at him.

Instructor Razuvious was a large human man. He seemed to tower over most of the other denizens in the area. He wore bright glacier-colored armor, pointed yet slick. Toldir and the others gathered around him as he spoke. "Every single Death Knight in this necropolis fights as one with runeforged weapons. Weapons you will use to balance your powers of ice, blood, and unholy magics. Runeforging is where it all begins. I want each of you to gather a weapon from a corpse or a weapon rack and approach the forges to craft a rune onto your weapon of choice."

As the group broke apart, Toldir moved to grab weapons off the rack, but was pushed aside by a tauren and dwarf, who merely scoffed at him and chuckled. "Wait your turn…troll." The dwarf sneered, speaking a bit slowly. Unfazed, Toldir moved past the weapon racks and saw a large two-handed sword laying against the wall. He picked it up with one hand with ease, to his surprise, but still had to heft it with two hands to swing anything with it.

He attempted to move his lips and form words, almost as if speaking again for the first time. "Too…cum…ber…some…" he surprised himself but hefted it over his shoulder then brought it down on the ground. It was heavy, even for a strong troll like himself. He swung it again and moved to an open area to practice swinging it. "This…blade…is just…too heavy…." He sighed and leaned it up against the wall again and he moved to look inside the wagons nearby. Amidst the bodies were a pair of short sword Scourge blades. He picked them up and swung hard. They sang through the air as he held them fast. He struck out into the air, swinging back and forth.

"Now these….heh. These I can get behind." He spoke quicker now, words and his tongue finding purpose again as he started gaining more and more of his senses back. He felt good. Although he didn't remember much of his old life, he walked towards the runeforge. A large open-mouthed skull with blue flame flickered and spouted fire as he placed the weapons inside. He prodded and poked at them as the magic swirled around them, carving symbols and designs into each.

"The weapons are ready, the process doesn't take long." An airy yet shrill voice called out behind him. It was the skeletal smith from before. He reached in with his bare bone hands as Toldir looked on for a moment in shock as the skeleton placed the weapons in his hands, cool to the touch. Now bright blue, they were glowing with an unholy magic as he stepped away to find Razuvious.

"Now that you all have your weapons to control your power, you must undertake the task of satiating and feeding that power. There is a hunger inside each of you. A hunger that must be sated regularly. A need to kill and cause pain."

Razuvious walked over to the pit as they gathered around him. "Those…failed initiates…are what stands between you and living another day. You can sate your hunger or die by it. The choice is yours. Take their life or take your own by sacrificing it to the hunger." He pointed to them, as they were chained up with shadow chains in the nearby pit and held fast.

Once it came time for Toldir to step up, he looked towards Razuvious to step down into the pit. He could pick any of the remaining targets, scanning the enemies and saw the night elf female from before. He stepped over in front of her. He held the key to the Soul Prison as it leapt from his fingers into the key hole and dissipated the soul chains holding her. "Stand and fight, failure." Toldir spoke harshly. He had this anger building up, a raging feeling in his gut as he saw her gather herself. "I will destroy this hellhole, starting with you!" She barked at him, icy-blue eyes defiant even as they glowed blue from the unholy magic still within her. She donned the initiate armor and picked up a nearby two-handed axe.

Toldir wasn't immediately ready for her as she charged at him with such speed. He barely had enough time to block the large weapon as she bore it down on him. He gasped and sneered as he swung at her, catching her side. He skinned her side but didn't cut deep as she roared again, her own anger welling up inside her. She lunged this time and he side-stepped her and brought one sword down across her armored back, cutting through this time. In a rage she flung her weapon at him, spinning as he dodged, but didn't bring his weapons up fast enough to avoid catching her fist in his jaw. She hit hard enough to bruise, but not enough to crack. Toldir let go of one weapon and grabbed her wrist and twisted as she gasped, trying to break free. His grip hard on her wrist as he twisted it and she knelt to one knee, trying to maneuver out of his grip. Without a word, he pulled hard on her and made her lose her footing as he flung her on her back. He slammed his foot into her chest and squished the air out of her lungs as she gasped, and swung hard across her throat, spraying thick blood on the floor in a pool around her head.

He gritted his teeth at what he had done but felt good about it. He embraced his anger whole-heartedly. Razuvious and the others nodded in approval as he stepped away and some ghouls cleaned up the mess.

"Your initial tests are over for the day. Over the next week you'll follow one of the three paths set before you as a Master of Frost, Unholy, or Blood magics. We will resume training tomorrow as we gather more initiates throughout the day. You are dismissed." As Razuvious saluted, they all saluted back. Toldir was left to his thoughts as they all dispersed, and he took it upon himself to explore the lower level of the necropolis. A nearby teleporter transported him to the training grounds. Three separate areas converged in the middle, each representing a specialization of runic magic.

Toldir leaned up against a wall and slid down to sit on the cold ground, taking a deep breath. He thought about everything that had happened. His mind was fuzzy still. No memories, no anything. He took a moment to run his hands through his hair. Thick, dark blue dreadlocks still there between his troll ears. He pulled one down in front of his face to make sure it was even real. He looked to his left to see a large lich instructing disciples of frost as they trained against ghouls or skeletons.

"Ey mon! What'chu be doin' down 'ere, eh?" A large troll with a white mohawk smirked at him glad in the same armor as him. Toldir was puzzled at the troll, not sure what to say. "I..uh…just wanted some place to think." The other troll cocked his head to the side. "What happened to ya voice mon? Ya seemed ta have lost ya accent or something?" The troll laughed a hardy laugh, seemingly unfazed by all this. "Ah it don't matta, what mattas is we got each other now! I seen the way the other races look at us trolls, even in death! Bah!" The troll scoffed looking towards the teleporter, as if expecting one of them to walk through it at this very moment. "I know our mission is to destroy this…Scarlet Enclave, but beyond that I'm not really sure what we're supposed to be doing, so I'm just sitting here, thinking." Toldir looked back. "Ya be thinking too much mon. Dis place, dis power, it's all meant for da Lich King. An being dead permanently is a worse fate den dis. We have purpose! Embrace it!" The troll was a bit too happy for the situation they were in for Toldir's liking, but he didn't pay much attention to the troll after that. "Anyways, my name be Daz'lek." The troll outstretched his hand. "Tol-" He stopped for a moment, then looked back at him. "Neotoldir." He returned that handshake, and so the other troll moved on and continued about his day.

" _Lost my accent?"_ Neotoldir thought hard about what this could mean, but he couldn't do much without any sort of knowing what went on. Perhaps in time it would return. Even though he didn't need it, the hunger had died down, the voice inside his head was quiet, and the throbbing in his head stopped, so he shut his eyes and attempted to rest.


End file.
